Toyota Suspends Mississippi Prius Plant Plans
Toyota had planned on beginning production of Priora at its Blue Springs plant in 2010, but those plans are now on hold indefinitely, according to the AP (via CNN Money). According to ToMoCo spokesfolks, construction of the plant is 90 percent complete, but installation of its machinery and tooling (the “most time-consuming elements”) has been delayed. And what of the 100-odd folks hired to oversee construction and install human resources plans? “Those people’s jobs are safe, and we’ll find things for them to do,” says Toyota’s Mike Goss. With weak sales affecting even the once-hot Prius, Toyota is responding quickly by holding off on a hiring binge until the market begins to recover. Consider the Tundra lesson learned, but in tough economic times those jobs will be missed. As will the $239m state incentive package, not to mention the $235m in tax revenue that the plant is expected to bring in over its first ten years of operation.
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The Toyota RAV4 is being built here in Ontario, Canada and with a 80 cent "Buck" its cheaper by far, the plant in Woodstock, Ontario is only running one shift, even though it was destined to run more, ahh depression eh?
Ronnie, You sure have a lot of venom for a guy who just asked some of the same questions TTAC asks everyday. BTW: You do know it was Senator Lott who got Toyota and Nissan into Mississippi, Shelby is next door in Alabama.